Scarlet
by BlackBirdSingin
Summary: What happens when Sam needs a little help in getting Dean back for all of the pranks Dean has pulled recently? Perhaps a few of our favorite demons step up to give Sam the idea for the perfect "prank". Pre-series.Rated T just in case.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Just an idea that came to me and I decided to run with it.

Disclaimer: The Winchesters are not mine, sadly. I do not own any of them or anything else you may recognize.

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><p>Sam walked in the front door and immediately threw his backpack down on the floor, ready to flop down himself.<p>

"Don't you dare leave that backpack on the floor, Sam," his father's voice came from another room.

"Why does it matter? This place looks like crap anyway," Sam mumbled, but picked the bag up all the same.

And it was true. Just like any other place his dad picked to stay in, this old house was truly a dump. The carpets were old and stained, and non-existent in some spots. There were stains (Sam shuddered to speculate at just what kinds of stains) on every wall and more rats than people in the house, but it was cheap. And if it kept them (mostly) out of the elements, what did I matter if Sam was comfortable or not, right?

"What did you just say to me?" the eldest Winchester demanded.

"Yes, sir," Sam called out dutifully, resisting the urge to roll his eyes lest his somehow father saw.

Sam sighed and trudged into his bedroom with the backpack. Setting it next to his bed, he crawled underneath the blankets. He reached the pillow and threw his head down contentedly, letting his hair flop across his face.

His tiny piece of comfort wouldn't last long, however. As he reached up to smooth the lumps out of his pillow, Sam felt something long and scaly next to his face. He screamed and jerked away, tumbling backwards out of bed.

All of a sudden, he heard Dean laughing behind him.

"Dude," Dean wiped a tear from his eye. "I thought you were going to piss yourself you got so scared." Dean continued to laugh, doubled over, as Sam picked himself up from the floor.

Looking towards the bed, Sam saw a fake snake sticking out from under his pillow.

"Shut up, Dean," Sam scowled.

"You scream like a girl, Samantha." Dean clapped him on the back, still chuckling.

Sam shook Dean's hand off before stalking out of the room.

"Aw, come on. Don't be like that, Sammy. It's just a little joke." Sam ignored Dean and continued toward the kitchen. To Sam's annoyance, Dean followed him.

"Aww, did I hurt wittle Samantha's feelings?"

"Shut up, Dean." Sam shoved past him with his water and headed towards the living room.

Sam set his water down and picked up the laptop. If he couldn't relax, he might as well get some homework done. Turning on the computer, however, did not yield the usual blue home screen, but a black one. Sam's eyebrows scrunched in confusion. As he watched, white print scrolled down the screen, apparently communicating some sort of virus on the computer.

Sam's eyes widened. His dad was going to kill him.

"No no no no no no." Sam started to hit random keys, hoping to stop whatever was happening. "No!"

"What's up, Sammy boy?" Dean asked, leaning against the doorframe a little too casually. Sam immediately saw the laughter in his eyes.

"Really, Dean?" Dean just started laughing again.

"It's just too easy, Sammy!"

"Ugh." Sam slammed the computer shut.

"Samuel Winchester, if that computer gets broken, you better hope you can run fast enough!" How did his dad always hear him?

Sam glared daggers in the general direction of his father's voice.

"Quit being so moody, Samantha. It's just a joke."

"It's Sam and I'm not laughing."

"Yeah, whatever, Sammy. Take that stick out of your ass, will ya?"

Sam huffed and turned his back on Dean, hoping he would go away if Sam refused to participate.

"Here, got you something today." Sam refused to acknowledge him, texting his friend Scarlet instead. "Saaaammmmyyy."

"I'm not falling for it, Dean."

"For what?" Dean attempted to sound innocent.

"Yeah, okay." Sam rolled his eyes.

"Just turn around. Promise you're gonna like it."

Sam slowly turned to cautiously look over his shoulder. Dean was holding out a small box. He flipped it to Sam, who fumbled with it a bit before securing his grasp on it.

"Careful there, butterfingers, don't want to break it, do ya?"

Sam surveyed the box, finding nothing suspicious about it. He carefully opened it, leaning away from it as if it would explode. When nothing happened, Sam leaned it to see what was inside. Immediately, his face lit up.

"A new watch? Thanks, Dean!" Sam grabbed the watch out of its package and turned it over in his hands. "Awesome!"

Sam looked over at Dean, but Dean waved off the thanks. "Yeah, just make sure you're not late to training ever again, bitch. Then I won't have to wait for you to run before we can start."

Sam replaced his old, semi-functioning watch with the newer sports watch, looking at it proudly. He turned to his older brother. "This doesn't make us even, you know. I'm still going to get you back."

"Ha! I'm the king of pranks. I'd like to see you try," Dean scoffed over his shoulder as he retreated into the kitchen. "You're going to have to do better than jumping out of closets and making scary noises to get me, Sammy. I'm not afraid of anything!"

Just then, Dean heard Sam scream. He rushed back into the living room to find Sam sprawled on the ground in front of the front door. Apparently, Sam had run into another one of Dean's pranks, a large, fake spider that would spring out when Sam opened the front door. Dean thought Sam would have already found that one, seeing as how Sam had already come in the door once, but was satisfied that it worked anyway.

"Dean!"

"Like I said, Sammy, King of the Pranks!"

Sam wiped the blood from his nose from where the spider had hit him and stood up. He saw concern flash across his brother's face at the sight of Sam's bloody nose.

"I'm going out. I'll see you later." Sam stormed out the door. He turned left at the and headed toward his friend Scarlet's house.

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Scarlet met him at her front door and let him in.

Seeing his anger and the dried blood on his face, she asked, "Are you alright, Sam?" Scarlet was the kind of girl that was always concerned about Sam's well being. She was there whenever Sam needed her, and was one of the wisest girls Sam new. It was almost like she was 60 instead of 16. Sam liked having her as a friend.

"Yeah, my brother was just being a jerk," Sam sighed. He flipped the hair out of his eyes to look at Scarlet. She looked sympathetically at him.

"Any particular reason?"

"Just being Dean." Scarlet handed him a wet cloth to clean his face.

"Well, how are things with your dad?" Sam told Scarlet everything, including the troubles he had with his dad. She was keen on how the two Winchesters butted heads, having already experienced it once, herself.

"The same. We haven't fought today, but then again, I've managed not to be too much more a screw up today than I usually am." Sam sighed and handed the cloth back.

"You're not a screw up, Sam!" Scarlet huffed indignantly. "You are meant for great things, things greater than your father or your brother could even comprehend."

Sam laughed humorlessly. "Sure."

Scarlet stamped her petite foot. "I mean it, Winchester! You're going to be instrumental in the take over of the world in the future."

Sam chuckled at Scarlet's choice of words. She was always claiming that Sam was the next savior and that he would be the one to free a lot of trapped souls. Sam didn't know of any trapped people at the moment, but he always went with it, figuring she would get it out of her system if he just agreed.

Realizing he was being a downer, Sam looked at her and half-smiled. "Thanks, Red."

Scarlet rolled her eyes. "It's Scarlet."

"Which is a type of red, like crimson."

Scarlet's nose wrinkled at that. "Ew. Crimson. That would be an awful name to have. Almost worse than Samuel." She smirked at Sam and flounced over to her couch.

"Okay, what about ruby?"

Scarlet pursed her lips. "Wanna watch some television?" she changed the subject.

"Sure." Sam flopped down on the couch next to her and proceeded to vegetate for the next hour, watching re-runs of television shows.

"Hey, Sam?" Scarlet turned to him. "What if you got your brother back?" Her face was scrunched slightly in thought.

"Wha'd'ya mean?" Sam didn't tear his focus from the screen.

"Well, like, what if you got Dean back for the things he does to you?"

Sam chuckled. "Yeah, that's not possible. Dean is un-prankable. I've pulled any good pranks there are on him and there weren't that many to begin with."

"There has to be more! You just have to be more creative!" Scarlet was more enthusiastic now. She flipped off the T.V. to get Sam's full attention. "Come on! I'll help you think of some!"

Sam turned to face her completely. "Really, Scarlet, Dean doesn't get scared easily."

"He has to be scared of _something," _she pressed. "Like snakes or spiders or the devil or –"

"No, no and no," Sam responded.

Scarlet huffed and crossed her arms. "Well then what?"

Sam laughed at how easily she got exasperated. "Ummm… I don't know. The biggest thing he is probably afraid of is finding out that one of the girls he slept with is pregnant. Hey! I could get a fake pregnancy test and –"

Scarlet shook her head, her dark locks swishing about her face. "No, you have to think bigger, Sam. What is the thing Dean is most afraid of?"

Sam shrugged, lost.

"I think he is afraid of losing you." Scarlet stated confidently. "How did he react when he saw that bloody nose you had earlier?"

"He's the one who gave it to me!" Sam looked at her like she was crazy, but she was having none of it.

"I don't believe that he didn't care when he saw you bleeding. I've seen the way he is around you, Sam. He is very… protective. It's like you have your own guard dog."

Just then, Scarlet's younger sister burst into the room. "Scarlet, come here! I have to tell you something!"

"In a minute, Lily! Sam and I are busy."

Lily whined out, "But, Scarleeeettt!"

"No, Lilith! I'll be there in a second!"

Lily stamped her little foot, strangely reminiscent of Scarlet. "Don't call me that!" Her eyes flashed.

"Sorry, Sam, I'll be right back." Scarlet got up and went to her sister. He heard them whispering in the hall, and wondered briefly what they were talking about.

Then he began to think of what Scarlet had said about Dean. Dean was really protective of him, but that was just because it was his job. If Sam wasn't kept alive, Dad would get super pissed. There would be no one to do the research or be backup on a hunt. Those were Sam's responsibilities and Sam was always the best at keeping himself safe, so, obviously, Dean had taken on that burden.

But to pretend to be dead, or something along those lines? That was just cruel.

Scarlet snapped her fingers in front of Sam's face, bringing him out of his reverie.

"So? What do you think?"

"I don't know, Scarlet. Pretending to be dead seems like an awfully mean prank to play…" Sam looked at her apprehensively.

"You don't have to play dead to scare him!...Just pretend to be hurt, is all."

When Sam still didn't seem convinced, Scarlet pressed, "We can get some really cool fake-blood and make it funny! It will be great!"

"Nah, Scarlet, I think we should think of a different way to do this…"

Scarlet grabbed his arm, her grip surprisingly strong. "There is no other way." Her jaw was set, her gaze unwavering. Sam still looked ready to protest. "Do it, Sam."

Sam's eyes widened. Scarlet was plain scary when she wanted to be. Sam would have sworn he saw her eyes flash black.

He shook his head, breaking her gaze. "Alright. If you think it will work…"

Scarlet beamed, pleased to have gotten her way. "It will! Trust me." Scarlet smirked at Sam, already planning.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day was Saturday. Being as there was no school on a Saturday, Sam made his way over to Scarlet's as early as possible. Her parents had gone to run errands for the morning, just as his dad had gone to help with another hunt a couple towns over, so they had time to get the prank set up.

Sam really didn't have much he needed to do; Scarlet had said she would take care of most of it. She said that Sam just needed to be ready to pull the prank.

When Sam got to her house, Scarlet and her sister Lily were giggling, seated at the kitchen table. Sam walked in the open front door and over to them.

"What are you guys up to?" Lily and Scarlet jumped, not having heard Sam come in.

"Good morning, Sam!" Lily beamed, her smile perfectly white. She batted her eyes at him and twirled a piece of her blonde hair.

"Good morning, Lily," Sam replied politely. "You look very pretty today."

Lily giggled and blushed a little. She hopped off her chair and ran to go play with her puppies. Sam didn't know what kind they were, other than knowing they were fairly large (for puppies) black dogs, but he did know that they were very obedient when it came to Lily's commands. When she said sit, the dogs were already sitting halfway through the word. If Lily told them to go fetch, the dogs would do it without a second thought.

Sam almost believed those dogs would kill somebody, rip him to shreds, if Lily told them to, if she so much as thought "Sick 'em, boys,". But, of course, Lily was too sweet to make those dogs hurt anybody.

"Hey, Sam. You're finally here!" Scarlet enthused.

"Yeah," Sam scratched the back of his neck and scuffed his foot on the floor. "Sorry about that. My dad wanted to go over some 'guidelines' before he left this morning. And then I had to train with Dean."

Scarlet shook her head lightly. "You and your training. I feel like you're training for the wrong thing."

Sam looked at her sideways. "What?"

"I mean, it seems like your dad always wants you to be ready for some impending battle when you should be getting ready for a war… ya know?"

"You mean, like…training for the rest of my life?"

"Exactly! You should be training for your destiny, not for what your dad sees for you." Scarlet gauged his reaction for a second. "Anyway! We should get started on the set up. I think I have everything."

"Okay. What do we have?"

Scarlet gestured Sam over to the kitchen counter, where she had several bags. She started pulling things out and laying them out for Sam to see.

"Here is the blood and the gauze and the oil and the fake knife…"

"Is that real blood?!" Sam stepped back, pointing at the bags of red.

Scarlet shifted, almost as if uncomfortable. "No, silly! It's…fake, of course!" She picked it up and turned it over in her hands. "Pretty realistic looking, huh?" She held it up to the light for Sam to see.

Sam swallowed and nodded.

Scarlet clapped her hands together. "So, when are we doing this?"

"Well, he's at home now… We could go over..,"

"Perfect!" Scarlet whirled, her long hair swishing just in front of Sam's face, and Sam could smell her cinnamon shampoo that she used. "Lily! Sam and I are going to his house so you have to go over to Megan's!"

Sam listened for Lily's protest that she was old enough to stay home on her own. He wasn't disappointed.

"But, Scarlet! I'm 13 now! I can stay home alone!" Scarlet shook her head at her sister's words. "I don't even know if Meg is home!"

"She is. I just talked to her mom this morning. Megan is expecting you."

"Can I bring the hounds?"

"They aren't hounds, Lily. They are black – ah, forget it. She never remembers anyway."

"So, can I?"

"Fine. Just put them on their leashes." Scarlett yelled over her shoulder as she came back into the kitchen.

"Cerberus! Baskerville! Come here, boys!" Lily called to her dogs.

Sam leaned around to see the front door. Lily stood there, petting the dogs, not even attempting to put a leash on either of the two, clearly excited dogs were accompanying her.

Lily looked up to see if Scarlet would notice the leash-les dogs, but instead caught Sam's gaze. She put her finger to her lips and winked. Sam smiled and nodded. Lily disappeared out the door with the two dogs following obediently behind her.

"Alright," Sam whirled back around at Scarlet's voice. "We should get going." Sam took the bag of supplies from her and allowed her to lead the way.

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Approaching Sam's house, Scarlet stashed the supplies in the large purse she had brought along.

"Hey, Dean," Sam called as he entered the living room.

Dean popped his head around the corner from the kitchen. "Hey, Samantha. You didn't tell me you were bringing your girlfriend over, Sammy." Dean smiled charmingly at Scarlet.

"She's not my girlfriend, Dean." Sam looked back exasperatedly at Scarlet, and Scarlet giggled.

"Sure, Sammy. Just, uh, use protection, okay?" Dean smirked at him.

"Shut up, jerk!" Sam blushed at Dean's implications.

Dean held his hands up. "Hey, I'm just saying, bro…"

"Well, quit it, Dean. Come on, Scarlet." Sam grabbed her hand and led her back into the bedroom. They continued to plan out exactly how the prank was going to go now that they knew where Dean was.

"Hey, Sammy! Come here a minute, will ya?" Dean's call interrupted their careful coordination.

"What, Dean?" Sam bit out.

"Just come here!"

Sam and Scarlet ventured into the living room where Dean was sitting watching T.V. "This guy tried to rob people by pretending to try to stab them with a fake knife." Dean gestured towards the screen and whatever program he was watching. "Can you believe that? Who wouldn't be able to spot a fake knife the minute they saw one?" Dean chuckled and turned back to the T.V. "Some people are idiots, Sam."

Sam and Scarlet exchanged glances out of the corner of their eyes.

Sam sniffed the air. "Are you cooking, Dean?"

"Oh, shit!" Dean hopped off the couch and ran into the kitchen. He reappeared a minute later.

Sam raised a question eyebrow, but Dean shrugged it off. "Just some lunch I made for ya. Hope you're hungry for some chicken, Sammy!"

When Sam thought it was safely un-suspicious, he pulled Scarlet back to his bedroom. He closed the door quietly.

"Well, now what?" He paced the floor nervously.

"Don't worry, there is always a backup plan. Sometimes better than the first!"

"Ummm… pretend to have broken your leg?" Scarlet put out uncertainly?

"Nah, there isn't a reason for me to be doing anything where I would break my leg."

"And there was a reason for you to get slashed by a gigantic hunting knife?" Scarlet asked sarcastically.

Sam looked at her quickly. She didn't know about what his family did, so she didn't understand how much of a reason there would be for Sam to be around a large knife. He was actually the one to propose the hunting knife to Scarlet, knowing it wouldn't be suspicious at all to Dean.

Sam sighed. "Alright, well, maybe I just won't get Dean back. Hopefully he will get tired of pulling these pranks soon."

"You can't give up, Sam!" Scarlet cried desperately. She grabbed his shoulders, her gaze boring into his eyes.

"The pranks aren't even that bad, Scarlet! Just a bit annoying. I'll survive." Sam's face screwed up in a sudden realization.

"What?" Scarlet asked, wondering what was making Sam look like he had been sucking on a lemon.

"I just realized: the only chicken we had was expired by a month. Dean is probably cooking it for 'lunch' as a prank."

"See! He is already trying to get you again!" Scarlet threw her hands up in exasperation. Suddenly, her head whipped towards Sam. "I've got it. Eat the chicken."

"What?" Sam looked horrorstruck. Why should he intentionally give himself food poisoning? Sure, it would scare the crap out of Dean if it was serious enough, but Sam would be the one suffering.

"Just hear me out!" She seemed almost in a frenzy. "Pretend to eat the chicken and get really bad food poisoning. So bad…" She reached into her bag and pulled out the fake blood. "…that it just might kill you."

Sam stared at her. "How do fake blood and food poisoning go together?"

"Easy! You pretend to be throwing up a lot from the food poisoning and fall or something and hit your head!"

Sam looked at her dubiously. Just then, her cell phone started to ring. Scarlet answered and started talking to whoever was on the other end.

Sam waited until she hung up. She pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. "Sam I have to go to Megan's. Apparently Lily's dogs are being a terror. Those things are so hellish." She collected her things and started to leave.

"Wait!" Sam stopped her. "What about the prank?"

"The blood is on the bed. I'm sure you can figure something out! You're definitely smart enough!" She winked at Sam and disappeared out of the room.


	3. Chapter 3

A few minutes later, as Sam was contemplating his plan of action, he heard Dean call him for lunch.

Sam sat down at the table and Dean set a plate of chicken and mashed potatoes in front of him. "Eat up, squirt. Don't you want to grow big and strong like your awesome older brother one day?"

Sam stared carefully at the plate before looking up at Dean. Sam caught the tail end of an eager expression on Dean's face before Dean masked it with his usual cocky smirk.

"Why aren't you eating any?" Sam asked at the lack of a plate in Dean's hand.

Dean fumbled for an answer. "I, uh… I had some already."

Sam looked down and smiled at Dean's really lame cover up. Dad should spend some time working on covers with him.

Sam's phone buzzed and he was grateful from the excuse not to touch the poisoned meal. It was a text from Scarlet.

'Have a plan?' -SC

'I did. But he is standing here watching me eat. What do I do?' –SW

'That sucks. Say u will eat l8r?' – SC

Sam was typing a response when Dean grabbed his phone. "Alright, enough texting your girlfriend. Eat."

Seeing no other way out of it, Sam began to cut the chicken up. He took a bite while Dean looked on and smiled. Sam chewed slowly, hating the taste of the obviously bad chicken.

Dean left the room to go grab his phone, which had begun to ring at some point, and left Sam's on the table. Sam threw what was left of the chicken in the trash quickly and got rid of some of the mashed potatoes, too.

He quickly sat back down at the table and pretended to be chewing when Dean came back in. "That was dad. He says he will be back tomorrow night, so I'm in charge—Did you really eat that fast?" Dean's eyes widened at the empty state of Sam's plate.

"Yeah!" Sam pretended to be excited. "It was really good, Dean! Where did you learn to cook chicken like that? It had a flavor I've never tasted before."

Dean swallowed nervously.

"What's wrong, Dean? There was nothing wrong with it, was there?" Sam raised a challenging eyebrow at Dean.

"Course not, Sammy! I'm uh…I have to go make a call. I'll be right back." Dean left the kitchen in a hurry.

Sam smirked and grabbed his phone.

'Threw it out when he wasn't looking, D thinks I actually ate it. U should have seen his face. Priceless.' – SW

Scarlet texted him back immediately.

'Perfect! U didn't actually eat any, right?' –SC

'Only a small bite. I'll be fine.' –SW

'If u say so. What's step 2?' –SC

'Not sure yet' –SW

'Drink it' –SC

Sam looked confusedly at his phone screen.

'What' –SW

'The blood. Drink it. Then pretend to get really sick from the chicken.' –SC

Was she crazy? He wasn't going to drink fake blood!

'It won't b that bad! We were going to put some in ur mouth for the 1st prank anyway"-SC

'Isn't it toxic?' –SW

Scarlet took a little longer to respond.

'No. Made it from cornsyrup and food coloring. U'll b fine.' –SC

Sam debated on whether or not he should listen to Scarlet. He could just pretend he had thrown up the blood, splatter some on the toilet and pretend to puke until Dean came in. But if he actually threw the blood up in front of Dean, it would seem that much more convincing.

Sam was about to go for the less traumatic route, when he saw the milk container sitting on the counter. He went over to check the date and saw that it had expired as well by a good week. Dean had made the mashed potatoes with that milk!

Sam's anger spiked. Dean had gone too far with the prank. He could have seriously hurt Sam!

Sam stormed form the kitchen into the bedroom and slammed the door. He grabbed the blood and opened the spout of the bag. He sniffed it cautiously, his anger not clouding his judgment completely.

'Drink it, Sam' –SC

'It will all b worth it' –SC

'U'll feel so powerful' –SC

Sam set his mind. Grabbing the bag, he began to chug the fake blood. He figured that if he went past enough, he wouldn't be as grossed out.

Incidentally, Sam found that drinking it wasn't all that bad. It was easy enough for him to down the two pretty sizeable bags because they mostly just tasted like syrup.

In hindsight, Sam realized he probably didn't need to drink both bags, but he hadn't really thought about it before. Now, Sam felt too full. His stomach felt like it was going to burst from all of the thick 'blood' sloshing around inside of it. He grabbed his phone to text Scarlet back.

'It's done.' -SW

'Good. How do u feel?' – SC

'Ready to scare the crap outta D' –SW

'Go get 'em, tiger' –SC

Sam smiled at Scarlet's text. He slipped his phone into his pocket and made his way into the living room. He clutched at his stomach as a pain rolled through it. He really shouldn't have had so much.

"Dean?" He called pitifully. After years of attempting to play sick to get out of training, Sam had mastered the perfect act. He put on his hurt puppy face and waited for Dean to come.

"What is it, Sam? I'm a little busy," Dean called out from the kitchen.

Sam shuffled into the kitchen, leaning heavily on the wall. 'Was it getting hotter in here?' Sam wondered.

"Dean, I don't feel so good." Dean's head snapped up from the computer he was staring intently at. He surveyed Sam's face and Sam really turned up the pitiful look.

"Like what kind of not good?" Dean asked warily.

"Like-" Just then, another pain stabbed through Sam's stomach, this one sharper than the first. Sam gasped at the pain. "D," he called out weakly.

" 'S just a stomach ache, Sam. Quit being a baby." But Dean's apprehensive expression belied his indifferent words. He looked guilty…and a bit scared, Sam noted.

Time to turn it up. Sam thought of the most disgusting things he could possibly think of to make himself gag. Luckily, Sam didn't have to think too much, his stomach was already on the path to emptying itself.

Dean rose from his seat when he saw Sam go pale. Suddenly, red ran in a fountain from Sam's mouth.

Sam's legs buckled and he collapsed to his knees. Dean was over to him in an instant, holding him up.

"Sammy!" Dean grabbed Sam's face, attempting to look into his eyes. "Sammy, look at me! Sammy! Look at me, Sammy. You're going to be okay, kid."

Sam began to shiver violently. He really did not feel well.

Dean pulled Sam into his chest and started to dial 9-1-1. "Just stay with me, Sammy." Dean frantically combed his fingers through Sam's bangs, needing to touch him in some way to make sure he was still there.

Sam heaved again, and another fountain of red spurted forth, spattering all over the linoleum and Dean. Sam sobbed at the pain that he couldn't rid himself of. It was unbearable at this point.

"I'm so sorry, Sammy. I didn't mean…hello? Yeah, I need an ambulance at…" Dean relayed the details to Dispatch.

And just when Sam didn't think the pain in his stomach could get any worse, it started in his head. Sam groaned at the new pain from the headache, miserable. He wished Dean could just knock him out.

"They're coming, Sammy. Just hold on."

Suddenly, the pain in Sam's head was blinding. His vision went white and he lost track of reality. Then he started seeing flashes of shapes and colors and snippets of sound.

"Hey, hey, hey." Dean was lightly shaking him. "You can't check out on me like that, Sam. You need to stay awake. Do you hear me?"

Sam nodded weakly, but stopped when the pain rocketed up. He whimpered in Dean's arms, completely uncaring at how much of a sissy he seemed like at the moment.

Dean sat and rocked Sam as he waited for the ambulance to come. Sam let Dean rock him and he was waited for unconsciousness to swallow him…or death to find him. Whichever was quicker at this point.

There were sirens outside and several people came busting into the room all at once. Sam was taken from Dean's arms and placed on a gurney. Sam called out weakly and reached for Dean.

"Hey! Let me through! I'm his brother!"

"Sir, we need you to calm down." Someone lifted Sam's eyelid, which Sam hadn't realized was closed until now, and flashed a bright light into his eye. Sam flinched away from the dagger. Didn't they know his head was already about to explode without their help?

Sam turned his head weakly from side to side. "D."

"Sir!"

"I'm here, Sammy." Sam felt Dean's hand wrap around his. "It's gonna be okay, Sam."

"Sir, you have to let us do our job. We need to be able to do our job if you want your brother to stay alive." Dean's hand was gone.

"Male, teen, appears to be vomiting blood. Fever of 104. Can you hear me, bud?" Was the guy talking to him? "I need to know if you can hear me. Can you tell me your name?" Sam's tongue felt heavy in his mouth. He was too tired to attempt an answer.

"Brother says his name is Sam." The woman came up next to him. They started to strap Sam down, done taking his vitals and with the initial examination.

"Sam," It was that woman. "Sam, can you hear me, honey? We're going to get you some help, okay? Squeeze my hand if you understand me, Sam."

Sam really concentrated on getting the muscles in his hand to contract. Instead, the pain in his head spiked again and Sam's stomach contracted once more. Sam started choking on the fluid that was being pushed up from his stomach. He felt himself rolled to one side and he heaved again. Surely there couldn't be that much fake blood left.

"This kid needs help. Now."

Sam was laid flat again and the paramedics strapped him to the gurney.

"Hey, Liz, his nose is bleeding now."

"Sam, does your head hurt at all?" Sam attempted to nod; he didn't know how successful he was in that endeavor.

"It does?" Huh, apparently, he still had some control. His gurney was being pushed rapidly forward. "Okay, Sam, you're going to be fine. Just try and stay awake for us. Can you do that?"

"Where are you taking him!"

"Sir, your brother needs a hospital."

"I want to go with him!"

"We need room in the back to work. You can follow us to the hospital if you like."

Sam heard Dean arguing with the paramedic as he was wheeled away.

The last thing he heard was Dean yelling his name.

"Sammy!"

And then everything was black.


	4. Chapter 4

When Sam woke, it was to the sound of a heart monitor and another thing that Sam couldn't quite identify. The soft whooshing of whatever it was soon lulled him back to sleep.

The second time Sam woke, he saw white and he thought he was having another one of the moments like he had back at the house; the one where he felt like he had been transported from this reality to a completely alternate one. He blinked a couple of times to try and shake the feeling, until he realized he only saw white because the ceiling he was staring at was white.

He lifted his head a little to see if he could see what was going on, but everything else was white too, and it smelled like cleaner, Sam noted.

Hospital.

Sam turned his head to the side, but felt a sharp tug on his face. Only then did he notice the tubes suspended in front of his face and apparently running into his mouth. He reached an unsteady hand up to feel the tape on his face, holding the tubes in place.

What had happened?

Sam heard the door open and close and Dean's heavy footsteps across the floor. Dean sat down heavily to the left of Sam.

Sam turned his head as much as possible to the left to get a look at Dean. He looked exhausted. There was a bit of shadowy stubble across his jaw and bags under his eyes. When Sam tried to lock gazes, Dean's eyes were completely unseeing and a bit watery.

Sam stretched his right hand out to try and catch Dean's but felt the sharp sting of IV in the back of it.

The door opened and closed again and Sam waited for the newcomer to come into his field of vision.

"Mr. Winchester." Dean looked up. "You're brother is steady right now. He seems to be holding up pretty well, considering. We are still trying to find a explanation for the profuse internal bleeding, but without an apparent source, there isn't much to go on."

"You said that if we waited long enough after that first surgery that there would be an answer. You said you could fix him."

"Mr. Winchester, you have to understand. We have no idea what we are up against right now. Sam came in with apparently massive internal bleeding that was coming from nowhere. You said you thought he had food poisoning, but we could only attribute that to a very small part of the problem. We've been waiting to see if the bleeding starts again to try and find the source, but so far, there hasn't been anymore."

Sam heard Dean getting annoyed. "Now, Mr. Winchester, you might look at this as a very good thing. With how much blood Sam seemed to have vomited up, he is doing remarkably well for someone who should have died from that much blood loss. And, on top of that, he hasn't experienced more of that bleeding in over 48 hours. Whatever it was, it hasn't come back."

"So, what, we are just going with the theory that you shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth? You're a friggin' doctor. You're supposed to practice medicine, not faith."

"Sometimes, we need both." The doctor started getting anxious, being in a room with an annoyed Dean.

"And, so you release him, say he is just dandy and he bleeds to death in his own bed? Nuh uh, not good enough, doc."

"We'll keep looking for answers, Mr. Winchester, but…" The doctor paused, trying to find the best words. "There is only so much we can do. I'm sorry." Sam heard the doctor's exit and Dean's collapse back into his bedside post.

Dean scrubbed a hand over his face. "I'm sorry, Sam. I don't have any answers here, man. The docs don't know what's up with ya. I guess you're just as much of a mystery to them as you are to me. Do you always have to be so difficult, Sammy?"

Sam felt Dean's hand gingerly grab his, mindful of the IV stuck in the back of it.

"Don't worry, Sammy. I'm going to get you outta here. You're going to be good as new." Dean sniffed. Was he crying? "I promise, Sam. Promise."

Sam wiggled his hand a little, hoping to get Dean's attention to tell him he was okay, but Dean was already off in his own thoughts.

If Sam could just get some kind of sound out, he could talk to Dean, tell him that it was all just a joke, that he wasn't dying. The blood was fake! He didn't need to be in the hospital, he just needed to be able to apologize.

Soon, Dean's phone rang and he got up to answer it. Dean went off in the corner of the room to talk, rendering Sam unable to hear most of the conversation. He did however, catch Dean's greeting of "Hey, Dad."

Dad? Where was Dad? Dean had said that he would be back tomorrow night… or what was tomorrow night over 48 hours ago…What was today?

Dean came back over to Sam. "That was dad, Sammy. He says he'll be back as soon as possible. He didn't know it would be taking this long. He's uh… he'll be here soon, Sammy."

Sam knew Dean was lying for his benefit, but if it made Dean feel better, Sam didn't mind. Sam knew his dad wasn't trying to come home early. The hunt came first. Innocent people could be dying, so the hunt always came first.

Pretty soon, Dean got tired of the one-sided conversation with Sam -he had been talking about anything and everything- and he fell asleep on the edge of Sam's bed. Sam, however, was wide-awake.

He counted the ceiling tiles, and then the number of dots on one ceiling tile and estimated, based on this number, how many dots were on the entire ceiling. Then he counted the number of heartbeats he had in one minute. He wondered if he really tried if he could slow his heart down or speed it up.

On the first attempt, nothing happened other than the fact that Sam gave himself a headache from concentrating so hard.

On the second attempt, Sam shut his eyes and attempted to relax. He heard the heart rate monitor responding to his methods and tried to relax even more. The beeps slowed even more. Sam glanced briefly at it seeing the BPM at 56. He shut his eyes and willed that number to go even lower. "At least to 50," he thought.

Sam felt a great power surge through him, a warmth that he had never felt before, and, suddenly, the heart rate monitor wasn't letting out a steady staccato rhythm of beeps anymore. Once single, sustained beep filled the silence.

Sam's eyes widened. Had he really just stopped his own heart? He still felt alive…

Sam concentrated on trying to feel his own heart rate. After a second, he felt it beneath his skin, still as strong as ever, just not as fast as it used to be.

The alarms on the machine started going off and Dean jerked awake. Nurses rushed into the room and towards Sam. Sam remained in place and waited for someone to notice he was still alive.

The nurses pulled the crash cart forward and Sam panicked. He didn't need to be shocked! His heart was still beating!

"Sammy!" Dean was freaking out.

"Hold on!" One of the nurses called. His heart is still beating… he hasn't gone into arrest. His heartbeat is just too slow for the machine to detect." The nurse readjusted the machine to detect Sam's now slower heart rate and it started beeping again.

"Mr. Winchester, I'm going to go get Sam's doctor. This may be something that can help us find out what's wrong."

Dean busied himself fixing Sam's sheets. "Christ, Sammy. You nearly gave _me_ a heart attack. At the very least, you're giving me grey hairs. I'm not old enough for grey hair, Sammy!"

Yeah, yeah, Dean, you're looks are so important. Sam rolled his eyes.

Dean must have seen that because he looked straight into Sam's eyes.

"Sammy? Can you hear me, kiddo?"

How was Sam supposed to respond with tubes in his mouth?

"Don't try to talk, Sam. They have you on a ventilator and a few other things going into you're stomach. But you're going to be okay Sam, ya hear me? You're okay."

Sam continued to stare at Dean. There wasn't much else he could do, except, apparently lower his heart rate at will to –Sam glanced at the number on the monitor- 45. Wow, no wonder the machine couldn't pick that up.

"Sam, I'm sorry. I never meant for the prank to go that far. I thought it would be funny seeing your face when you ate the rotten chicken. I thought you would complain and spit it out, not eat the whole thing! I swear I never wanted to hurt you, Sammy." A couple tears an unchecked down Dean's face. "I thought I was going to lose you, kiddo. I thought I was going to lose you to some stupid prank. This is all my fault. I-"

The doctor's entrance interrupted Dean's apology.

"Mr. Winchester, if I could speak to you outside for a moment?"

"I'll be right back, Sammy." Sam heard the door close and a new silence fill the room.

He wondered what they possibly could have been talking about outside that they couldn't talk about in his room. They had been talking in here before.

Sam saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He made out the shape of what appeared to be a nurse checking the machines over.

"Sam." Scarlet's face came into view.

Scarlet?

"Yes, Sam, it's me. I came to check on you."

Why was she dressed like a nurse?

"The doctor's wouldn't let me in here, otherwise. It's family and medical staff only, apparently."

Was she reading his thoughts?

"No time for explanations now, Sam. I just came here to say that I am sorry. I thought you were ready, but I guess I was wrong."

Ready for what?

"Remember how I kept telling you that you were meant for great things? You are, Sam." She sighed. "Just not right now, I suppose. I thought tricking you into drinking the demon blood would kick-start things and you could start training…but you just aren't ready for that yet. Your body can't handle that much power yet."

Scarlet carded her fingers through his hair, something Sam usually enjoyed, but he couldn't focus on that pleasure when he was trying so hard to understand Scarlet's ramblings.

"Yeah, I know I'm not making any sense right now, Sam. But I promise that it will all be clear one day. One day soon, you and I can be together again. And we can develop your powers and make you who you are truly supposed to be. Don't worry, our plans for you are still great."

Sam struggled away from Scarlet's touch, officially freaked out by her words.

"Shhh, Sammy. It will all be okay."

"Scarlet?" Sam heard Lily's small voice.

"Yes, Lily?"

"Are we leaving Sammy here?"

Scarlet sighed and looked down at Sam.

"Yes, Lily. He isn't ready yet."

"Aw, but you said that once we had Sam that my puppy's could have Dean. They _really_ want to play with him, Scarlet. They need a new chew-toy" Lily took on the tone of a petulant 3 year old.

"Your hell hounds will get to play with the brother soon enough, Lilith. Be patient," Scarlet snapped at her sister. Turning back to Sam, and in a much gentler tone, she said, "I'm really sorry that I have to do this, Sam, but you're just too smart."

She smiled. "But I'll take something to remember you by until we meet again. I like the name Ruby, the one you came up with, much better than Scarlet. I'll take that as my new name." She leaned down slowly and kissed him (as mush as was possible around the tubes), slowly at first and then fiercely. The longer her lips lingered, the fuzzier Sam's thoughts got. He started losing track of his memory. He couldn't remember what had happened, and then why he was in the hospital, and then where he was at all.

Opening his eyes, he saw a girl's lips pressed against his own and he felt confused.

Just then, his brother burst into the room. "Hey! Get away from my brother!"

"Goodbye, Sam."

The girl's mouth opened wide and she started screaming as black smoke poured from her mouth.

A demon.

A similar sound was coming from the other side of Sam and he looked to see another girl, blonde this time, with smoke pouring from her mouth as well. The girls fell, boneless, to the floor as the demons escaped through the vents.

"Hey, Sammy. You okay?" Dean's hands fluttered over his body as he checked Sam over for any injuries. "She do anything to you?"

Sam tried to convey silently that he was okay, if a bit confused.

"Good news, though, docs said you could go home tomorrow. They're coming to take all the machines out of you right now. They think all of the food-poisoning is out of your system."

Food poisoning?

"Yeah, you had us all scared there for a while, kiddo. It was some pretty serious stuff with you throwing up so much, but they said it could have been a lot worse. Apparently, you could have puked blood." Dean smiled weakly at him, but Sam could see through it. There was something that was making Dean uncomfortable.

All at once, Sam realized he was really tired. He wasn't sure how long he had been awake for, but it felt like days.

"Just sleep, Sammy. I'm watching over you, little bro."

Sam closed his eyes and let the soft shores of sleep lure him in.

John Winchester would eventually get to the hospital to see his son and reassure Sam that he would have come whether the hunt was over or not.

Sam would get out of the hospital the next day, ready for things to go back to normal.

But of course, Dean would keep Sam from their normal for as long as possible. He would hover around Sam constantly, making sure he was okay and apologizing for accidentally giving him expired chicken for lunch. After all, Ruby hadn't altered just Sam's memory.

And Azazel, well, Azazel would be happy that his protégé would live into the future, his perception of his abilities unmarred by the catastrophic attempt at cultivating his powers. He needed Sam healthy and not under lock and key by his older brother.

And if Sam ran into a hot girl named Ruby or Meg or Lilith in the future, he showed no signs of recognition. He gave a polite hello and kept going, unaware of their knowing gaze upon his form.

But they all knew, Ruby, Meg, Lilith and Azazel that is, that it would only be a matter of time.


End file.
